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Lance was born to Ernest Amano, the CEO of the Amano Group. In his early years, he met and befriended Lauren Paups, the daughter of an employee of the Amano Group. When Lance was 11 years old, his father's company came under criminal investigation due to an alleged connection to the KG-8 Incident. This investigation resulted in the arrest of one of the employees, Colin Devorae.

Later, the Amano family hired a butler named Oliver Deacon. However, Lance came to learn that Deacon was actually Colin Devorae, who had escaped from Penn E. Dent Prison and had come to work for the Amanos in order to look after his daughter Lauren.

Ten years after the KG-8 Incident, Lance ran into financial trouble, incurring a large debt to Tender Lender, a loan company headed by the sinister Viola Cadaverini. To solve his money problems, he planned a fake kidnapping of himself for his father's money with Paups, who would do whatever he asked of her. Additionally, Lance threatened to reveal Devorae's secret, blackmailing him into helping him as well. During the staged kidnapping, Ernest arranged for Miles Edgeworth, a family friend, to deliver a $1 million ransom to the haunted house in Gatewater Land. The "kidnappers" disguised themselves in the theme park's Badger costumes; Devorae as the Bad Badger, Paups as the Blue Badger, and Lance as the Proto Badger. However, Devorae suddenly attacked Lance with a gun, forcing Lance to shoot him dead.

Lance, as the Proto Badger, attacking Edgeworth.

Lance became desperate and decided to pin the death on Paups. As Edgeworth was leaving the house, Lance knocked him unconscious with a prop sword and took him to the Wild, Wild West area of the park. There, Lance placed a Bad Badger head over Edgeworth's head, in order to disguise him as Oliver Deacon to Paups. Lance explained that Deacon had tried to betray them, so Lance had been forced to tie him up. Lance gave Paups a gun for protection, though unbeknownst to her, the gun was only a prop. Later, Lance told Paups that Deacon had escaped and was heading for the stadium. He then got into a Bad Badger costume to disguise himself as Deacon, and caught up to Paups at the stadium. Paups panicked and "shot" the Bad Badger, then escaped from the area.

Some time later, an Interpol contingent arrived to investigate the kidnapping, and Edgeworth managed to escape. During the investigation, Lance reappeared in the stadium, claiming to have escaped his captors. Although Lance tried to frame Paups for the murder, and his father tried to cover for him, Edgeworth eventually figured him out and he was taken away after being named as Colin Devorae's killer. Ernest Amano - the real reason that Interpol had gotten involved - was also arrested for tampering with evidence to protect his son.

Though a spoiled young man, Lance normally came across as quite reserved and soft-spoken, and would often wear a blank expression on his face. According to his father, Lance was quite popular with women. However, he was prone to taking drastic measures to protect himself from trouble. He tried to solve his financial problems by extorting his own father through a faked kidnapping, and the killing of Colin Devorae made him desperate enough to betray his girlfriend to the police. Lance would often act as if he were weak and defenseless in an attempt to make himself seem like a victim.

However, some of Lance's mannerisms hinted at his deceit. When hiding behind his hands, he would peek through to see if he had convinced anyone and, when flustered, his handcuffs would sometimes come off momentarily. Once he was revealed to be the killer, he began to cry like a small child.

"Hikaru" may come from Hikoboshi (彦星; "Cow Herder Star"), the Japanese name for the star Altair. According to the story of Tanabata, the Japanese star festival, Hikoboshi and Orihime (織姫; "Weaving Princess", the Japanese name for the star Vega) are lovers only allowed to meet once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. They are separated by the Milky Way for the rest of the year. The Japanese name of Lauren Paups is "Himeko Orito". When written in the Asian format of family name first, it becomes "Orito Himeko", likely meant to be a play on "Orihime".

His English surname is a shortened version of his Japanese counterpart's.

Lance is the only killer in the game who is not directly involved with the smuggling ring. However, his father is closely associated with its leader.

Lance taking advantage of Lauren Paups' infatuation with him in order to get her to help with a fake kidnapping plot bears some resemblance to Dahlia Hawthorne's manipulation of Terry Fawles in her "kidnapping".